if you look at the president's lead, for instance, on the west coast in california -- the lead has been cut in half. i've done some math, can you see where mitt romney makes up some six to eight million votes. john mccain lost by ten million votes, he could pick up a whole bunch of votes in the nonbattleground states. let's go to our battleground map. i'll show you how easy it is. we have the president winning in virginia, wisconsin is a state that just feels on the ground is something that leans toward the president. now you just give him new hampshire, and he sits at 270, that's with giving romney ohio, that's with giving romney florida. that's with giving him iowa. that's with giving him colorado. that's this issue of the battleground versus the popular vote. >> more to come from chuck todd. thank you very much. we'll be back in a couple of minutes with him. i want to get to our battleground governors in a minute. but i want to start around the table with our roundtable. i mentioned rachel maddow is here from msnbc. carly fiorina, david brooks of the "new york times," ej dionne of th